Joint Statement of Falun Dafa Associations in 22 Countries Delivered to Hong Kong Government

Regarding the incident of the Hong Kong government refusing entry of close to a thousand Falun Gong practitioners by denying visas and boarding, and violent deportation, twenty-eight Falun Dafa Associations from twenty-two countries sent a joint statement to the Hong Kong government on July 5th, strongly condemning the large-scale deportation, and called for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and Director of the Immigration Department not to be the scapegoat of Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong.

Hong Kong Falun Gong practitioners read a joint statement outside the government headquarters

Holding flags and banners, Falun Gong practitioners walk to the government headquarters protesting the forced deportation under Chinese Communist Party (CCP) pressure

Falun Gong practitioners held a press conference in Chater Garden on the afternoon of July 5th. Spokesperson for the Hong Kong Falun Dafa Association, Kan Hung-cheung, called the series of incidents orchestrated by Zeng Qinghong from June 25th to July 1st the largest human rights scandal in Hong Kong history. "More than eight hundred Falun Gong practitioners from different areas were denied entry to Hong Kong. As far as we know, about five hundred and twenty Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners were deported. Two hundred and eighty Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners were denied visas, and twenty were denied boarding. Sufficient evidence indicates that the Hong Kong Immigration Department had asked airlines to cooperate and provided a blacklist of Falun Gong practitioners to them."

Mr. Kan stressed that the incident targeted Falun Gong and represents discrimination against Falun Gong, a practice that follows the principles of Truthfulness-Compassion-Tolerance. The origin of this incident, which damaged Hong Kong's international image, came from Zeng Qinghong's gang. "They took advantage of Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to Hong Kong and produced an unprecedented human rights scandal to embarrass and scapegoat Hu."

Mr. Kan read aloud a joint statement by Falun Dafa Associations in twenty-two countries, condemning the large-scale deportation and calling for the Chief Executive of Hong Kong and the Immigration Department not to be the accomplices and scapegoats of Zeng Qinghong.

Falun Gong practitioners then marched to the government headquarters to deliver the statement to Chief Executive Donald Tsang. A police officer accepted the statement on behalf of the Chief Executive. The Falun Gong practitioners left peacefully.

Below is an excerpt from the statement:

"It is regrettable that Hong Kong's biggest human rights scandal happened during your tenure as Chief Executive. As the Chinese Communist regime proclaimed its achievement that Hong Kong people have enjoyed a high degree of autonomy in the ten years following Hong Kong's return to China, what the international society has witnessed is not the success of "one country, two systems," but the darkest page in Hong Kong human rights history.

"The basic rights of over 500 Taiwan citizens and Falun Gong practitioners who went to Hong Kong with legal visas and planned to participate in demonstration activities sanctioned by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) Government before July 1st, 2007, have been seriously infringed upon.

"Hong Kong Immigration's ill-natured administrative decision of illegal deportation with force not only has infringed upon the peaceful Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners' personal freedom, freedom of travel, freedom of belief, freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, but it has also truly damaged Hong Kong's international image with respect to freedom and the rule of law. The Hong Kong police force is not the CCP's police force, yet they took violent measures to deal with these unarmed and peaceful practitioners. What the injured practitioners recorded and videotaped has become irrefutable evidence of the crimes committed by the Hong Kong government against Falun Gong practitioners.

"However, all Falun Gong practitioners know that the order barring them from entering Hong Kong and forcibly deporting them back to Taiwan was not really made by the Hong Kong government. And we do know that it was Chinese Vice President Zeng Qinghong that masterminded this shameful and despicable plot. In other words, the Hong Kong SAR government was forced to follow the order from Zeng Qinghong."